Safety-related auto recalls, specifically the onerous and ongoing debacle involving potentially deadly airbags manufactured by parts supplier Takata, continue to dominate the headlines. Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expanded the airbag recall to a whopping 33.8 million units. To put it in perspective, that’s about 1.5 million more cars recalled from a single campaign thus far than the auto industry sold in the U.S. during all of 2013 and 2014.
Clearly, with U.S. new car sales up 5.4 percent over the first quarter of 2015, according to Autodata, the constant clanging of the recall bell has done little to keep shoppers out of auto dealers’ showrooms. Perhaps, as a recent study seems to indicate, consumers are just tuning out the seemingly endless chatter altogether, like they’re listening to the world through some kind of recall-blocking noise-cancellation headphones.
The car shopping site Autotrader found that when owners are notified that their cars are being recalled, only 56 percent ever take them in for needed repairs. The site’s survey also determined that only 61 percent of consumers make an effort to stay informed about recalls on vehicles they own, and only 35 percent research recalls when shopping for a car or truck.
This is nuts, especially when one considers that 77 percent of incidents in which Takata-supplied airbags were found to have killed or injured drivers the vehicles had already been recalled, but not repaired. That’s according to Sean Kane, an auto-safety activist and founder of Safety Research & Strategies, quoted in Autoblog.
"The huge number of high-profile recalls recently makes it even more imperative for automakers to get consumers to come into dealerships for repairs and for consumers to proactively check to see if their cars are recalled," says Autotrader senior analyst Michelle Krebs. "The record-setting recall of vehicles equipped with potentially flawed Takata airbags could ultimately result in new approaches by the government and manufacturers on how recalls are addressed."
When a recall is issued the manufacturer is required to contact every owner of record for that particular model by mail. However, this usually excludes second or third owners. Fortunately, NHTSA maintains a free online database at www.safercar.gov/vinlookup that allows consumers to determine if cars they currently own – as well as those they’re considering buying in the resale market or are renting (the latter being an issue unto itself) – are at risk because of uncorrected safety-related recalls.
Users simply search for issued recalls by entering a model’s vehicle identification number. Also known as a VIN, it’s both noted on a car or truck’s title and can be found at the dashboard on the driver’s side of the vehicle, or on the driver’s side door on the door post. The system will list any unresolved recalls, or if there are none, will simply report, “No Open Recalls."
Owners can also register their vehicles with NHTSA and be contacted automatically if a safety issue is discovered via a downloadable app for Apple iOS and Android phones. The app also enables motorists to submit complaints to NHTSA regarding possible safety problems with their vehicles.
Whether or not you’ve received an official notice, if you find out that one (or more) of the models in the family’s fleet has been recalled, contact your local dealership immediately to set up a service appointment (if the recall involves the vehicle’s tires, an owner is limited to a 60-day period after notification to have the issue addressed). Owners shouldn’t be charged for recall-related repairs.
Unfortunately, with so many makes and models being recalled these days, getting a service appointment to have a specified repair taken car of at a local dealership may take some time. To make matters worse, replacement parts (especially Takata-supplied airbags), may be scarce for some time to come. If you’re on a waiting list for one or more high-profile recall-related repairs, you may want to limit driving it – or park the car altogether if possible – until the work is completed.
Follow us on Forbes.com, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
See also...
